Woman injured in Rotorua carpark by suspected Taser

Photo / SunLive

Police are hunting a woman who fired a probe from a black object, potentially a Taser, injuring another woman in a Rotorua carpark.

Rotorua police acting area commander Inspector Steve Langdon said the 54-year-old woman was struck with the probe after she got out of her car parked at the Kokako St shops in Selwyn Heights on May 7.

The incident was reported to police just after 7.15pm.

He said the woman told police the alleged offender was someone she knew but had not seen for some time.

Langdon said the alleged shooter pointed a small black object out of her car window towards the woman as she got out of her car.

The injured woman received a puncture wound to her leg from a small metal probe and was treated at Lakes PrimeCare.

Langdon said police had not recovered the black item but had seized the metal probe and were working to identify how it was fired.

Probes from Tasers or other high-voltage stun guns are like fish hooks that are usually connected to wires that detonate when they reach the target. When probes embed in skin or clothing, they send an electrical current through bodies.

Langdon said police weren’t able to tell yet if the device was homemade or a commercial Taser or stun gun obtained on the black market.

Without having access to specific data, he said high-voltage stun gun shootings were rare in Rotorua but any device designed to inflict serious injury was a concern to police.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, coveringmainly police, court, human interest and social issues.